Penn State Faculty Senate Update by Dr. Patricia Amburgy
Activities of the Faculty Senate in 2007–2008 included a revision of HR-40, a revision of the first year seminar requirement, a report and resolution on the drinking culture at Penn State, reports on online education, and the creation of a scholarship for undergraduate students with financial need.
At its December 11, 2007, meeting, the Faculty Senate voted to add a section on the Five-Year Extended Review to Policy HR40: Evaluation of Faculty Performance. The new section outlines general procedures to be followed across the university in post-tenure reviews. Individual units are responsible for establishing more precise guidelines that are consistent with the general policy. With the approval of President Spanier, the revised version of HR40 became effective on January 29, 2008. The revised policy is available here.
At its April meeting, the Senate voted to revise the first-year seminar requirement. The revised policy would require each unit within the university to submit a First-Year Engagement Plan. Guidelines for preparing the plan are available in the Report of the Ad Hoc First-Year Seminar Committee, Appendix B of the Faculty Senate Agenda for April 29, 2008. The revised first-year seminar requirement will be implemented upon approval by the President and in Summer Session 2009.
At the March meeting of the Senate, the Committee on Student Life presented a Report on the Impact of High-Risk Drinking among Penn State Students. (The report is available as Appendix M of the Faculty Senate Agenda for March 18, 2008.) At the April meeting, the Senate adopted a Resolution on the Escalating Problem of Student Alcohol and Substance Abuse that reaffirms its concern about the problem, and makes several recommendations for future action. (The resolution is published as Appendix E of the Faculty Senate Agenda for April 29, 2008.) Information about AlcoholEdu, a program that will be implemented this summer, is available here.
There were two major reports on online education this year. A Report on Administrative Structure of Penn State Online was presented by Yvonne Gaudelius, Assistant Vice President and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, and Wayne Smutz, Associate Vice President for Academic Outreach and Executive Director of Continuing and Distance Education, co-chairs of the Penn State Online Coordinating Council. (The report is available as Appendix K M of the Faculty Senate Agenda for March 18, 2008.) An update on the Penn State World Campus was presented by Ken Udas, Executive Director of the Penn State World Campus. (Penn State World Campus Update is available as Appendix J of the Faculty Senate Agenda for April 29, 2008.)
At its January 29, 2008, meeting, the Faculty Senate adopted a resolution to endow a Faculty Senate Trustee Scholarship for students with financial need. (The resolution is published as Appendix C of the Faculty Senate Agenda for January 29, 2008.) At the April meeting of the Senate, Chair Dawn Blasko announced that sufficient commitments to the scholarship fund had been reached, so that scholarships could be made available to qualified students beginning Fall semester 2008.